Yesterday, it popped into my head that R2-D2 is not actually an android, but simply a robot, leaving me wondering why this never occurred to me before. The thing is, it's not like I was watching Star Wars or Blade Runner or anything related, it just struck me out of nowhere. I guess I'm lucky that geekiness is in favor these days, as that's painfully geeky.

But I believe "droid" is a word Lucas made up, because the Droid telephone is trademarked for the name under lucasarts.

The word "android" is a combination of Ancient Greek andros and the suffix -oid, which literally means "in the form of a man (male human being)". This could be contrasted with the more general term "anthropoid", which means humanlike. According to this fashion, a female human-like robot would be a "gynoid".

The term android was popularized by the French author Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam in his work Tomorrow's Eve (1886), featuring an artificial humanlike robot named Hadaly. As said by the officer in the story, "In this age of Realien advancement, who knows what goes on in the mind of those responsible for these mechanical dolls."

Cutter wrote on Jun 29, 2011, 16:49:But does simply having a humanoid shape qualify one as an android? I always thought they had to actually look human ala Bladerunner or approximate it very closely ala Data, with hair, skin, eyes, etc. (synthetic or otherwise). More human than human, as Dr. Tyrell said.

In Star Wars canon, yes. In other universes... I guess it depends on the universe.

But does simply having a humanoid shape qualify one as an android? I always thought they had to actually look human ala Bladerunner or approximate it very closely ala Data, with hair, skin, eyes, etc. (synthetic or otherwise). More human than human, as Dr. Tyrell said.

another weird law still in effect at san francisco is the ban on sales of air guns. apparently in the old days when milk wagons were common kids would use air guns to play a prank on the driver by shooting the horses with pellets which would send the wagons careening down the streets of san francisco.

Yesterday, it popped into my head that R2-D2 is not actually an android, but simply a robot, leaving me wondering why this never occurred to me before. The thing is, it's not like I was watching Star Wars or Blade Runner or anything related, it just struck me out of nowhere. I guess I'm lucky that geekiness is in favor these days, as that's painfully geeky.

Deep Thoughts, by Stephen Heaslip.

edit:

The Art of the Brick - Blue.

Some of those are wonderfully creepy, especially the one where the guy is ripping his face off.